Announcer Rebenstorf, 41, Dies of Heart Failure After Surgery

UCLA football and basketball announcer John Rebenstorf, 41, of Fullerton died of heart failure Sunday morning at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, less than 24 hours after having heart bypass surgery.

Rebenstorf, who had a history of congenital heart problems, checked into Kaiser Hospital in Los Angeles last week after complaining of chest pains. He failed a treadmill test and an angiogram revealed blockage in a coronary artery, so he was transferred to Good Samaritan and underwent surgery Saturday morning.

A spokeswoman at Good Samaritan, Sarah Kaufman, said Sunday that his surgeon, Michael Mendez, said Rebenstorf was doing fine after surgery but developed congestive heart failure at 1:30 a.m. and died.

Rebenstorf previously had suffered two heart attacks, the first when he was 28, and he had triple bypass surgery in 1985.

Rebenstorf, a graduate of UC Riverside, began his radio career at age 19 at a 1,000-watt station in Danville, Ill. He left that job to attend Southern Illinois and later went to Riverside.

He worked for radio stations in Riverside and San Bernardino, KMEN and KBON, and KSOM in Ontario before becoming the voice of Cal State Fullerton in 1981.

He was hired by KMPC as the Bruins’ football commentator in 1990, and he worked with Paul Olden. Rebenstorf took over play-by-play duties last year on football and basketball. He worked with former Bruin quarterback David Norrie on football and worked alone on basketball.

“It was like I won the lottery,” he said after being hired at KMPC. “I was standing up when they told me, so I had to sit down.”

Rebenstorf is survived by his wife, Linda, and two children, Brian, 15, and Kristen, 12, and a stepson, Michael, 23. Funeral arrangements are pending.